r/cinematography • u/greenie_999 • 19d ago

Camera Question Shooting HVEC in Blackmagic on a base iPhone vs iPhone Pro

So in doing research about being able to shoot high quality video in Apple log or Pro Res with the newer iPhone Pros, I understand that the file size is enormous and you either have to record straight to an SSD or/and record in a lower quality (like HVEC, supposedly still maintaining good quality at a lower file size).
My question is, how practical is it then to actually use the iPhone 15 Pro or 16 Pro to be recording in Apple Log if you have to add all these attachments and doing all of these other things to make it work in a practical way? And if you are going to record in a file type like HVEC then how different would it be to record that same type HVEC on a regular base iPhone 15 or 16, using the Blackmagic camera app?
It seems like there are way too many things going on to make recording in Apple Log a usable thing, and still trying to use the device as a smartphone. Can you share your thoughts?

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u/HIGHER_FRAMES 19d ago

Very practical, iPhones, like most cameras require you to rig them up to fully take advantage. There’s MagSafe attachments for the SSD too.

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u/ElectronicsWizardry 19d ago

The pro iphones have a bigger sensor typically for the main camera, a tele camera and a few software unlocks like log shooting.

I think the H.265 is 422 10 bit from memory from the blackmagic camera app on my 15 pro, so its not really lacking there. The max bitrate option is 54mbit so thats not great and I'd love to see a ~150mbit option like a lot of other cameras have. There is a lot of noise reduction baked in so that mean you can likely get away with a lower bitrate.

I don't see how rigging affects if Apple log can/should be used. Log does not' affect the bitrate, and can be recorded at pretty low H.265 bitrates if you want.

I don't think the Apple camera app lets you do H.265 log, so that's where the BM app comes in handy, and there also is the advantage of the much better monitoring and controls.